: , . > J@ty = : 
: i. ¥ ‘ J y * r rm - 
= I } 
' & » Bad . 
a % é on 
" 
at aad LS ty . I j iy 


Mexican Architecture 
of the V'1ce-Regal Period 


through the courtesy of Eman - 
Witu1am F. Bucxtey to whom he § 
acknowledges his indebtednes 


y 


\ { 
¥ 
" 
- +: 
4 “_ 
‘ é 
t \ z 
mt 
* 
. 
& 
. ; 
‘ if 
i 5 
$ 
‘ 
i “4 
i 
3 
1 
{ 
r 
' 
s | ¥ " 
4 
ee 
, 
; A 
; 
~ 
x 
4 
Sg 
n 
aw ig 
ba! 
> ¥ r 
‘ +." nt 
. ‘ : 
* ) ¥ 
4 
: 
4 
\ i 
‘ 
’ ( 7 
¥ ‘ 5 
‘' 
q 
" ri 
At aS 


Mexican Architecture 
of the Vice-Regal Pertod 


BY 
WALTER H. KILHAM, S.B., F.A.LA. 


gE FERENCE 
REF | ae | be dé wk ‘i p 


LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO. 
55 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK 
39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON, E.C.4 
TORONTO, BOMBAY, CALCUTTA AND MADRAS 


1927 


SVINCIA! i 1SRARY,. 
PROV PEN Ae ELS eo 


VICTORIA, 5. ©. 


COPYRIGHT, 1927 
BY LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO. 


The author wishes to express bis appreciation for the 
drawing and photographs contributed by A. W. K. 
Bituincs, Howarp FisHer, and C. B. Waite 


a RES, 


PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 
BY THE PLIMPTON PRESS, NORWOOD, U:S°A 


List of Plates 


STAIRWAY, SANTIAGO PaLacE, 35 

Loceras, SANTIAGO PaLace, 39 

View 1n Upper Loceia, Santiaco Patace, 39 

ENTRANCE, SANTIAGO PaLaAcE, 43 

Entrance, House or Don Juan ManueEL, 43 

Patio, SANTIAGO PauacE, 47 

Ancient BaALusTRADE, SANTIAGO PaLace, 51 

A Gateway 1n Buvue anp Wuire, SI 

House or Atvarapo aT Coyoacan, 55 

. A Doorway, Mexico Crry, 55 

ir & 12. Wari TREATMENTS 1n ALL-oveR Patterns, Mexico 

| Ciry, 59 

13. Corner or Patace, Mayorazco DE GUERRERO, 63 . 

14. Porta, Patace or THE MayorazGo DE GUERRERO, 63 

15. CuHapet, TEerceR OrpDEN DE SAN Francisco, CUuERNA- 
vaca, 67 

16. View or La Parroguta, Taxco, 67 

17. Unpver THE Portates, PuesBia, 71 

18. CaTuHEepRAL CLoISTER, CUERNAVACA, 7I 

19. Detain, “House or Ties,” 75 

20. Winpow, Las Vizcarnas, 75 

21. Deram, Crioister or La Mercep, Mexico City, 79 

22. Crorster or La Mercep, 83 

23. Upper Winpvows, La Concepcion, Mexico City, 83 

24. Doorway at XocHIMILCo, 87 

25. Facape, San Aucustin Acotman, 87 . 

26 & 27. Dertarts, San Aucustin ACOLMAN, QI 

28. CaTHEDRAL oF MEXICO AND THE SAGRARIO, 95 

29. Dome or THE CATHEDRAL OF Mexico, 95 

30. INTERIOR OF THE CATHEDRAL OF Mexico, 99 


Lo} 
. 


o 


oD ON An WwW bd 


bt 


6 LIST OF PEATES 


31. Domes or Ex Carmen, San ANGEL, 103 

32. ConvENTO DEL CARMEN, SAN ANGEL, 103 

33. CuHurcH or San Dominco, PuesBia, 107 

34. Gateway, San Francisco ACATEPEC, 107 

35. Rear oF THE CATHEDRAL, PuEBLA, III 

36. A Patio at Puesia, III 

37. Hacrenpa Cuurcu Door, 115 

38. House at Taxco, 119 

39. A Typicat Puesian House, I19 

40. Tower or San Francisco, PuEBLA, 123 

41. A PuLgueriaA, 123 

42. A Street at Puesia, 127 

43. Cuurcy anp Atrium, Puesia, 127 

44& 45. Tue Casa ve ALFENIQUE, PuEBLA, 131 

46. Convent or Santa Maria pE Los ANGELES aT CHurRu- 
BUSCO, 135 

47. Capita DEL Pociro, GuapALurpE Hmatco, 139 

48. CuurcH Door, VILLA DE GUADALUPE, 139 

49. Marin Door, Capita vet Pociro, 143 

50. Sime Door, Capita vex Pocito, 143 

51. A Cuapet, Guapatupe Hipatco, 147 

52. A Mexican ALAMEDA, 147 

53. Detam, Capitya pet Pocito, 151 

54. Fountain 1n Patio or THE “House or TiLEs,” I51 

55- Detamw From “House or Tires,” Mexico Crry, 155 

56. CaTHEepRAL Tower, Mexico Ciry, 159 

57- FacapE oF THE Sacrario, Mexico Crry, 159 

58. Deramss oF THE SaGRARIO, 163 

59. Basttica oF GUADALUPE, 167 

60. La Santisima Trinipap, Mexico City, 167 

61. Dome anv Tower, La Santisima, 171 

62. ‘Tower anp Sipe Butrresses, La SaNTISiMA, 171 

63. Titep Seat anp Fountain, 175 

64. Gareway AT ORIZABA, 175 

65. House or tHe Masxs, Mexico Crry, 179 

66. CaTHepraL anp Crry Hatt, San Luis Porosi, 179 

67. In THE Borpa GarpEn, 183 


68. 
69. 
70. 
71. 
72. 


LIST OF PLATES 


PANELLED Doors, 187 

An Otp Door, 187 

Giipep Carvinc, Pugsia, I91 
A Titep Watt, I91 

CuurcuH aT TEPOZATLAN, 195 


73 & 74. InTeR1IoR oF CHurcH AT 'TEPOZATLAN, 199 


Detait or Porta, TEPOZATLAN, 203 

Nocue Triste Memoriat, Mexico City, 207 
Tue “ Parroguia” or Taxco, 207 

A Winpow at Taxco, 211 

An Otp Stone EscutcHEeon, 211 

Poot 1n Borpa GarpEN, CUERNAVACA, 215 
Op House, San ANGEL, 215 

Paracio pE Mineria, Mexico City, 219 
STAIRWAY IN Patacio pE MInerIA, 219 
Cuurcu or Ext Carmen, CeLaya, 223 


Mexican Architecture 
of the Vice- Regal Period 


AtTHoUGH Mexico possesses many monuments 
more worthy of study than some of the models which 
have been sketched and measured by successive gen- 
erations of students, relatively very little is known of 
‘Mexican architecture in the United States or Europe. 
In the case of Americans, the supposedly superior at- 
tractions of Europe have no doubt hindered the growth 
of a sympathetic understanding and appreciation of 
this vast collection of architectural wealth which lies at 
their very doors. 

As a race the Spaniards were the greatest builders 
since the Romans, and nowhere was this talent dis- 
played to greater advantage than in the royal province 
of Mexico, or New Spain. The skill, taste, and origi- 
nality of the Spaniards were supplemented by the high 
artistic development of the natives, who quickly be- 
came as adept as their masters. Even today, love of 
beauty is a marked characteristic of the descendants 
of the Aztecs, a quality for which they receive small 
credit from the more practical Americans and Euro- 
peans. 

The history of architecture in Mexico during the 
period under consideration represents a complete cy- 
cle, beginning with the direct importation of the Mid- 
dle Renaissance style from Spain, where Juan de Her- 


: REETPENCE 


‘Sreustle , rr a eee | % "her" dinmol 


PROVINCIAL LIZRARY, 
VICTORIA, B. C. 


10 MEXICAN ARCHITECTURE 


rera, the architect of the Escorial, the Cathedral of 
Valladolid, and other well-proportioned but highly 
formal buildings, represented the dominant note in 
ecclesiastical architecture, and gave the name of her- 
reriana to the productions of his school. In the old 
country the Renaissance progressed through the 
Plateresque, Churrigueresque, and Baroque manners, 
to arrive again at the end of the eighteenth century at 
the formalities of a style which corresponded closely 
to the Empire style in France. In New Spain architec- 
tural design swung farther away, along a path in- 
fluenced by native ideas as well as Spanish fashions, 
through a dazzling climax of half-Indian, half-Spanish 
extravaganza, finally to reach the same goal, the ele- 
gant and formal Academismo, which completed the 
most remarkable excursion in architectural design 
known to the history of the Renaissance. 

There is, naturally, no Gothic in Mexico, but in the 
Renaissance way the country’s splendid churches, 
sweetly domed and nobly towered, and its massive and 
time-stained palaces, are products of a really great 
architecture, well-conceived, thoroughly understood, 
and marvellously well-executed. 

Building activity started in 1521, immediately after 
the Conquest, and lasted until the beginning of the dis- 
turbances which terminated in the independence of 
Mexico in 1821. The province enjoyed a period of unex- 
ampled prosperity, free from war or civil dissension of 
any kind, for nearly three centuries, which may be 
designated as the Vice-Regal period, during which its 
wealth increased to an astonishing extent. 

_ In addition to its skill in architecture and building, 


OF THE VICE-REGAL PERIOD 1 


the ruling class had the assistance of a plentiful sup- — 
ply of cheap but intelligent labor, for the native In- 
dians, many of whom were already skilled artisans, 
learned all sorts of crafts with surprising facility and 
were remarkably amenable to supervision. The union 
between the government of the colony and the ecclesi- 
astical authority, however doubtful as a practical 
measure, was a powerful stimulus to the cause of archi- | 
tecture, and large building projects were carried out 
in every direction. In fact, according to a Mexican 
writer, so ardent in the cause of religion were the 
followers of Cortés and Pizarro that in the same breath 
they informed the Indians of their new Sovereigns, 
the Emperor Don Carlos and the Creator, the two al- 
legiances being inseparable. 

So rapid was the development of building after the 
country had been pacified, that by 1596, only seventy- 
five years after the Conquest, over four hundred mon- 
asteries had been built, in addition to the civil and do- 
mestic buildings, and churches, of which latter there 
were over a thousand in one province alone. As the 
population and wealth of the Colony increased, so 
numerous did the churches become that no village 
hacienda or ranch could be found, no matter how 
small, without its chapel. For example, one writer says 
that, after travelling on horseback for days in appar- 
ently virgin territory and crossing almost impassable 
districts where seemingly no one had been before, one 
would find at the journey’s end a handsome, even 
sumptuous edifice as evidence of the faith, energy, and 
incomparable labor of the Church during the seven- 
teenth and eighteenth centuries. Built and often 


2z MEXICAN ARCHITECTURE 


vaulted with stone, these churches, as well as the dwell- 
ings, were at first of a rather fortress-like severity in 
style, due to lack of resources and the wish to obtain se- 
curity in a country only recently subdued. As tranquil- 
lity and prosperity increased, both religious and private 
buildings gradually developed a style of exceeding rich- 
ness and elaboration, which culminated in such build- 
ings as the Parroquias of Taxco and Tepozatlan, and 
the palace of the Conde del Valle de Orizaba in Mexico 
City. 

Unlike the practice of Rome, which allowed and 
encouraged her dependencies such as Egypt, Judea, 
Greece, etc., to continue their own language, religion, 
and architecture, or of England, which allows her In- 
dian subjects, for example, full liberty of creed and 
culture, the Spanish colonists by force of arms up- 
rooted and destroyed as far as possible all traces of 
Aztec civilization, laws, religion, and social atmos- 
phere, replacing them fully and completely with their 
own. Especial care was taken by Cortés, el conquis- 
tador del Andhuac, in sketching the plan of the new 
Capital which was to rise on the ruins of Tenoxtitlan, 
to locate the new temple at the north side of the great 
square, lately occupied by the teocalli of the bloody 
Huitzilopochtli, while the site of the former palace of 
Moctezuma was assigned to the seat of the new goy- 
ernment. This policy was carried out likewise in other 
places, and where, as in the case of the pyramid of 
Cholula, the original teocalli was too large to remove, 
a Christian temple was erected on its summit, a zeal 
in the cause of religion which later came to be re- 
gretted. 


OF THE VICE-REGAL PERIOD 13 


The development of the Colonial style in Mexico is 
comparatively simple. Although, with characteristic 
Spanish independence, Juan Gil de Hontafion was at 
the time of the Conquest building in Spain the cathe- 
drals of Salamanca and Segovia in the pointed style, 
the Gothic period had passed, leaving only reminis- 
cences which in Mexico were expressed in the rib vault- 
ing of one or two early buildings. In one church, the 
Capilla Real at Cholula, built as an “ overflow ” for 
the adjoining San Gabriel, the guiding influence was 
quite evidently the mosque of Cordoba with its many 
aisles and interior columns. 

During the earliest years of the Colony’s history the 
disorders peculiar to an only recently conquered and 
scarcely yet pacified country, where the fear of insur- 
rection was mingled with quarrels and struggles 
among the Conquerors, were responsible for the severe 
and fortress-like character of the early buildings. The 
churches were characterized by thick walls, and mas- 
sive buttresses with low and squat towers. Domestic 
buildings were one story high and often provided with 
almenas (battlements), while the still scanty resources 
of the settlements prevented any great use of orna- 
ment. The fine basilica-like church of Coyoacan, and 
the cathedral and chapel of the Tercer Orden at Cuer- 
navaca, illustrate the ecclesiastical side of this earlier 
style, while the houses of Alvarado and Cortés at 
Coyoacan, dating from 1523, are good types of the do- 
mestic architecture of the primitive period. 

In Spain at the middle of the sixteenth century the 
architects Juan de Herrara, Juan de Toledo, and Juan 
Gomez de Mora represented the growing taste for the 


4 MEXICAN ARCHITECTURE 


severely classical school which, employing only the 
Doric order and avoiding ornament, gave to its works 
an indubitable aspect of strength and power. This 
school which, as was said above, came to be known 
as herreriana, and whose most important Spanish 
building was the Escorial, strongly influenced the first 
part of the Colony’s career. The great cathedrals of 
Mexico City and Puebla are the most splendid ex- 
amples of the style in New Spain. 

In the buildings of this period the walls are thick, 
and free from ornament except around the portals 
where a Doric order, usually of great purity, is em- 
ployed and is often surmounted by a secondary and 
smaller simple architectural frame which encloses a 
niche with a statue of the Saint, and is flanked on each 
side with pyramidal, or obelisk-like, adornments. The 
cornices of these buildings are invariably straight, the 
pediments unbroken, vaults semi-circular, and domes 
hemispherical, low, and ordinarily octagonal, in plan. 
There is little intimation in this earlier work of the 
gorgeous facades and interiors which were to mark the 
later years of the Colony’s prosperity. Barroso well 
says that “ the road which architecture in New Spain 
followed through different styles and influences, ex- 
cepting the academic reaction of the nineteenth Cen- 
tury, can be expressed by saying that it was a slow 
change from inexpressive lines and surfaces to lines 
and surfaces having the fullest amount of expres- 
sion.” * 

The Cathedral of Mexico City is probably the largest 
church in America, (387 feet long and 177 feet wide), 


1 Francisco Diez Barroso, El Arte en Nueva Espana. 


OF THE VICE-REGAL PERIOD 15 


and, all in all, perhaps the finest. Its rather low and 
heavily buttressed facade and majestic towers seem to 
express the very essence of Latin American spirit. The 
church deserves to be better known; I question if a 
more satisfying Renaissance cathedral exists in the 
world. 

The original design, laid out by Castafieda, was sup- 
plemented after the corner stone had been laid, in 1573, 
by a new project, the work of Juan Gomez de Mora, 
who was sent from Spain by Philip III. The plan has 
some points in common with the cathedrals of Sala- 
manca and Segovia, though it lacks the apsidal 
chapels. 

While the severity of the Doric treatment of the in- 
terior may detract from its interest, its great size and 
height (179 feet in the dome), and its complete unity 
of design, make it sufficiently impressive, and the vista 
through the archway into the adjoining Sagrario Met- 
ropolitano, with its play of light and shade punctuated 
by the moving figures of black-clad worshippers, is 
exceedingly picturesque. The detail of its two great 
towers is well worthy of careful study, while their simi- 
larity in several respects to the towers of the Escorial 
is an interesting evidence of their Spanish ancestry. 

The plans for the Cathedral of Puebla were approved 
by Philip III in 1562, although the building was not 
finished until 1649. It is smaller than the Cathedral of 
Mexico, and of greater homogeneity, but its exterior 
is somehow less interesting, although its lines and 
details are of much elegance. The interior greatly 
resembles the Cathedral of Mexico, except that the 
altars, rejas and carvings seem richer. The archi- 


146 MEXICAN ARCHITECTURE 


tect was probably Mora, though some authorities 
ascribe it to Herrara. The view of the building from 
across the Alameda at the rear will be found the most 
pleasing. 

Another great church of the earlier period before 
native influence was strongly felt is San Augustin 
Acolman, whose tasteful friezes, carved with fruits 
and garlands, might almost claim a place in Toledo or 
Salamanca. 

The great tezontle palaces in Mexico City, of which 
the Casa del Conde de Santiago de Calimaya is an in- 
stance, sometimes called the Palace of Santiago, ex- 
emplify the domestic architecture of the time. Two 
great stories in height, the dominant note is that of 
severity and force. Even the stone gargoyles are carved 
in the form of cannon, and the battlements were sur- 
mounted by a row of stone soldiers until a republican 
government ordered their removal.’ 

In these palaces, which presented few windows to 
the street, the life of the family and retainers went on 
under the lofty arcades of the great patio. The family 
apartments and the chapel were in the upper story, 
away from the dampness of the ground and open to 
the breezes. If the house was in the plateau country 
the roof was flat, supported by great wooden beams, 
and paved with flat red bricks laid in lime on a bed of 
dry earth which formed a perfect insulation from the 
heat and cold, and, marvelous to relate, was water- 

2 A decree of the Government of May 2, 1826, ordered the destruction 
of coats-of-arms and other insignia which recorded the dependence of Mex- 
ico upon Spain. A prominent exception was the equestrian statue of Charles 


IV of Spain, on whose pedestal the words were added “ Mexico preserves it 
as a monument of art.” 


OF THE VICE-REGAL PERIOD 17 


tight. At lower elevations, in the warmer and moister 
zones, sloping, tiled roofs provided shelter against the 
greater rainfall. The ornament of the facade was gen- 
erally concentrated around the portals or occasionally 
at the corner, but often, as in the case of the house of 
the Mayorazgo de Guerrero, or the house in the Calle 
de Relox, the niche which surmounted the corner was 
elaborately decorated and formed the principal orna- 
ment of the facade. 

As the wealth and prosperity of the Colony increased 
it found ample expression in the character of the mul- 
titudes of new buildings which sprang up in every 
direction. The progress of the successive Renaissance 
periods in Spain was reflected in Mexican work, which 
often surpassed that of the mother country in elabora- 
tion, but absolutely without servile imitation; so that 
it should be studied by itself without any attempt to 
associate it with the Spanish. 

The natural resources of the country, together with 
its remarkable activity in agriculture, mining and 
commerce, and its long freedom from disturbance un- 
der a stable and not illiberal government, caused a re- 
markable prosperity which brought unheard-of luxury 
within reach of the rich, and reasonable ease and com- 
fort to the poor. Hospitals and colleges multiplied, as 
well as churches and palaces. The University came into 
being by royal order as early as 1553. Other institu- 
tions followed, such as the Academia de Belles Artes, 
the Monte de Piedad, and the great Colegio de las Viz- 
cainas whose enormous facades, nearly 500 feet in 
length, are among the most striking in the capital. 
Other foundations during the eighteenth century were 


8% MEXICAN ARCHITECTURE 


the Hospital des Terceros, the Casa de Cuna, the Hos- 
picio de Pobres, and the Hospital de San Andrés, 
which institutions alone comprised a complete plan of 
benefices for the Capital. The Viceroys were frequently 
able men, active in advancing the welfare of New 
Spain. Some, like Mendoza, the Velascos, Bucareli, 
and. Revillagigedo, were of rather exceptional bril- 
liancy. Aqueducts were built, streets paved and 
lighted, and banditry suppressed. The English trav- 
eler, Thomas Gage, speaking of the life of the Colony 
in 1624-25, stated that there were four things to see in 
New Spain; the women, the clothes, the horses, and 
the streets, and says he should have added a fifth, 
the trains of the nobility, which were far more splen- 
did than those of the court of Madrid or of any capital 
of Europe. The geographer Humboldt later was so 
impressed that he called the capital the “‘ City of Pal- 
aces,” and even today, in spite of the growth of cities 
in the United States, it is perhaps, all told, the hand- 
somest city in North America, with the possible excep- 
tion of Washington. 

During this period the government required works 
of public utility, such as aqueducts, canals, roads, 
bridges and forts; private individuals built spacious 
and richly decorated houses and palaces, with elabo- 
rately designed portals and patios, while the furnish- 
ings were of mahogany, ebony and rosewood, often 
richly inlaid with silver and pearl. Silks from China, 
and brocades and velvets from Spain, were common 
decorations. The clergy established large, rich and 
dazzling temples, adorned with gold, and hung with 
pictures by the rising school of Mexican painters 


OF THE VICE-REGAL PERIOD 19 


whose productions still hold the admiration of sophis- 
ticated visitors. 

Under these influences the way was open for the 
importation and surprising development of the more 
highly ornamented and costly Plateresque and Bar- 
roco styles, which were at their height in the mother 
country. Beginning with gradual softening of the rigid 
lines of the herreriana, the severe Doric of the church 
portals changed to twisted and garlanded Corinthian; 
rectangular windows became octagonal or star- 
shaped; straight entablatures and cornices developed 
curves and convolutions, while decorative patterns 
covered the surfaces of panels, columns and borders. 
The work of the Plateresque period may be studied in 
the Convent of La Merced in Mexico City as well as in 
the beautiful San Augustin, now the National Library, 
whose proportions and details are of remarkable ele- 
gance, while in domestic architecture the houses of 
the Conde del Valle de Orizaba and San Mateo Val- 
paraiso illustrate the diversity of the style and the ver- 
satility of the architects of the period. 

Illustrations of the Barroco are so numerous that 
only a few can be cited. The Capilla del Pocito at 
Guadalupe Hidalgo, the domes of El Carmen at San 
Angel, the “ House of the Masks” and “Las Viz- 
cainas,” may be noted as a few prominent examples, 
but so varying are the Mudejar, Indian, and Span- 
ish influences which affected their design that a 
chronological classification according to style would 
be very difficult. The capricious forms of windows, 
balconies, and niches, and the brilliant profiling of 
the mouldings whose faces are ingeniously pitched to 


20 MEXICAN ARCHITECTORE 


catch and reflect high lights, well express the growing 
taste for luxury and ostentation in the now powerful 
colony, which reached its climax in the Churriguer- 
esque of the latter part of the eighteenth century, when 
ordinarily simple architectural forms assumed shapes 
of hitherto unimagined elaboration and expressive- 
ness. 

In the churches of El Sagrario and La Santisima in 
Mexico City, designed in 1749 and 1755 respectively, 
the architect, Lorenzo Rodriguez, certainly produced 
two temples of notable originality and beauty. The 
pink tezontle facades of the former, which frame and 
enclose the gray masses of detail around and above the 
portals, form, with the adjoining cathedral, a most re- 
markable composition whose striking mass and out- 
line are in no way impaired by the riotous intricacy 
of the detail. 


The introduction of glazed faience was followed by 
its use for the decorations of domes, towers and walls, 
and its brilliant coloring seen against the intense blue 
of the sky, added another note to the already dazzling 
scheme. The surprising fact is that throughout all this 
riot of elaborate decoration and color, the innate Span- 
ish good sense always retained ample surfaces of plain 
masonry as a background and frame for the ornament, 
even in the most extravagant buildings, and the parti- 
colored domes invariably rose above a base of severely 
plain stone, so that the effect of the whole was never 
confused. In this respect alone, Mexican architecture 
is worthy of the most careful study. Even such struc- 
tures as the “ House of Tiles ” in Mexico City, or the 


OF THE VICE-REGAL PERIOD a1 


Casa del Alfefiique at Puebla, which are among the 
most beautiful buildings in the world, show a balance 
of elaboration which could only have been conceived 
in an atmosphere of architectural sanity. 

In the last years of the eighteenth century the world- 
wide classical reaction brought about the cold and 
formal Academismo, of which the leading exponent 
was Manuel Tolsa, a young Valencian sculptor, who 
arrived from Spain in 1791, commissioned as Director 
of Sculpture in the Academia of San Carlos. This title, 
in passing, may raise in the reader’s mind a slight 
speculation as to the status or condition of the art 
schools in the United States at that period. In Mexico 
City the Academy had been a going concern since 1783, 
and had exerted a definite influence on the art of the 
Capital. At any rate, the new Director soon gave evi- 
dence of extensive knowledge and good taste in the 
field of architecture as well as sculpture, and in 1797 
he was entrusted with the design of the vast new 
Royal School of Mines, or the “ Mineria,” which is 
the principal example of the Academic style in the 
Capital. This correct and cold design comprises long 
exterior facades, which are now much disfigured by ex- 
cessive settlement of the foundations, and a majestic 
interior court of 645 square meters, with a grand stair- 
case which challenges comparison with the best work 
in the mother country. Tolsa also designed the palace 
of the Condesa de Pérez Galvez, in the Calle del 
Puente de Alvarado, and the church of Nuestra Sefiora 
de Loreto, whose exterior, more reserved and correct 
than attractive, is surpassed by the interior rotunda, 
which, although raised on a hexagonal plan, has fine 


22 MEXICAN ARCHITECTURE 


proportions and much merit. This church also suffers 
from the treacherous subsoil and leans badly, so that 
Tolsa is probably best remembered by his work on the 
facade and central lantern of the Cathedral of Mexico, 
and by his truly splendid bronze of Charles IV, in the 
Avenida Juarez, which easily takes place among the 
world’s best equestrian statues. This was cast in one 
piece in Mexico City in 1802, another side light on the 
advanced condition of the arts in Mexico at that pe- 
riod.* So preponderating was Tolsa’s personality that 
many of the important works of his time have come 
to be attributed to him instead of to their rightful 
authors, and this tendency extends even to the furni- 
ture and silverware of the academic period. 

Francisco Eduardo Tresguerras, a picturesque na- 
tive of Celaya, deserves mention at this point. Like a 
true artist of the Renaissance he was not only a painter 
of merit and painted the decorations for his own 
churches, but attained a certain fame as a writer of 
sonnets. His style was softer and more graceful than 
Tolsa’s and his masterpiece, FE] Carmen of Celaya, de- 
serves to be more widely known. Some incidents of the 
life of Tresguerras, as related by Terreros* are in- 
teresting, and the picture of his declining years must 
excite a feeling of envy among the architects of these 
hurried years. Although most of his life was spent in 
the small city of Celaya, it contained several striking 
incidents. He held the offices of sindico, regidor, and 
alcalde, of his native city. He took part in the unsuc- 


3 Lorado Taft in his American Sculpture states that the first casting 
of an equestrian statue in the United States was Clark Mills? ‘“‘ General 
Jackson,” in Washington, which was erected in 1853. 

* D. Manuel Romero de Terreros, Arte Colonial. 


OF THE VICE-REGAL PERIOD 23 


cessful insurrection against the Spanish government 
headed by the patriot Hidalgo, but escaped punish- 
ment when it was suppressed. Nobody could deny that 
he had the soul of an artist. In the last years of his life, 
every afternoon he would go on foot to a little hacienda 
of his, called “ El Romerillo,” in the environs of Ce- 
laya. With his great cape over his shoulders he would 
march along, playing his flute and followed by his 
faithful and inseparable dog. Then he would sit down 
under a tree, and with all the simplicity of a child alter- 
nate between playing with his dog and calling forth the 
notes of his favorite instrument. From this improvised 
Arcadia he could enjoy the peaceful landscape, and 
contemplate with the highest satisfaction the distant 
outlines of the greatest works of his active life. Not 
until the herds came slowly down to the waters of the 
Laja and the last rays of the sun illumined the lovely 
dome of Carmen, would he retrace his steps to his home 
in the city. 

The history of Mexican architecture as such ter- 
minated with the Academismo. Since the independ- 
ence, design, much of which is highly meritorious, has 
followed European models, mostly French, with few 
local characteristics. At present there is some indica- 
tion of a new school of Mexican thought whose insp1- 
ration is based on the splendid native art tradition of 
the Aztecs and Mayas, and in this the future hope of 
Mexican design may lie. 


While the foregoing represents the main trend of 
Mexican Colonial architecture, it was at the same time 
deeply affected by several important local influences. 


24 MEXICAN ARCHITECTURE 


In Spain much of the Gothic and all the later work 
shows the presence of the Mudejar influence, or that of 
the Christianized Moors, and it is natural that this 
quality of Spanish work should have gone overseas 
along with the rest. Among the earlier buildings of 
the Capital many good examples remain of over-all 
stucco wall patterns of geometric figures, which plainly 
show a Moorish ancestry. These stucco patterns had 
attained considerable elaboration when the increase of 
resources brought about the general use of the more 
expensive and showy Puebla tile, or else genuine cut 
stone for wall surfaces, in the carving of which there 
became evident a new spirit. Friezes and garlands in- 
tended as pure Renaissance took on unexpected shapes 
and lines, while spiral terminations of friezes and 
belts likewise showed the hand of the Aztec workman, 
involuntarily recording on the walls of his master’s 
house the pathetic tradition of his lost race. Neces- 
sarily much of the builder’s work was done by Indian 
mechanics, and probably architects as well, who would, 
of course, follow their natural bent in executing their 
work. This overtone of Aztec design is one of the most 
charming and original qualities which runs through 
all Mexican architecture, and gives it a strong indi- 
viduality of its own, apart from European precedent. 
The religious influence also had a deep effect upon 
domestic architecture as attested by the nichos, carved 
high up on street corners and flat walls, and the sacred 
monograms, which sometimes appeared in cornices 
and ornaments. No large house was without a fine 
private chapel which was treated with special mag- 
nificence and given the place of honor. Shrines abound 


OF THE VICE-REGAL PERIOD 25 


along the roads, and often public works, such as foun- 
tains and bridges, are decorated with them. 


Some time after the Conquest, in 1526 according to 
a popular belief, some potters from Talavera and other 
places in Spain came to settle in Puebla and began the 
manufacture of the glazed tiles and majolica ware, 
which soon came to be utilized for a thousand architec- 
tural purposes as well as for household utensils and 
vases. Domes and towers soon shone with brilliant 
blue, white and yellow; dadoes and stairs, lavabos, 
nichos, and even bathtubs in faience were found every- 
where. Walls of buildings were covered with it, and, as 
in Spain, tile work became an important feature of the 
native style, a fact too little recognized by American 
imitators. 

The story of Mexican tin-enameled faience is a fas- 
cinating history in itself. It is believed that the early 
friars were impressed by the ability which the natives 
showed in the manufacture of earthenware, and sent to 
Spain for artisans skilled in pottery-making to come to 
the new colony and instruct the natives in the art. 
Whatever the source, progress was rapid and the pro- 
ductions of tin-enameled pottery made by the Pueblan 
workmen, which came to be known as Talavera ware, 
were wide-spread, and their vases, bowls, and other 
utensils are now highly prized. From modest begin- 
nings the industry developed until, in 1750, some thirty 
establishments in the city of Puebla were engaged 
in its manufacture.° A considerable proportion of the 
Pueblan work seems to bear the impress of Chinese de- 

5 Edwin Atlee Barber, The Maiolica of Mexico. 


26 MEXICAN ARCHITECTURE 


sign, which has given rise to the idea that Chinese 
workmen were brought to Mexico to aid in the pro- 
duction of this ware. Mr. Barber, however, states that 
this theory is incorrect, and that the pseudo-Chinese 
decoration is from the hands of local decorators who 
attempted to imitate the Chinese manner. The nine- 
teenth century saw its decline, but efforts to revive 
it are on foot. The characteristics of its design ran 
through the Moresque, Spanish, Chinese, and His- 
pano-Mexican periods, and the skill of the Mexican 
potters produced many articles of great beauty and 
value for which the country has received little credit. 

The native Puebla tiles are four and a half to five 
inches square, generally slightly convex and beveled on 
the edges, and showing three rough spots in the form 
of a pea on the upper side, which are the scars left by 
the clay supports used in baking. The dark blue color 
is always in relief, due to the thickness of the pigment. 
The glazing is imperfect, giving a pleasing texture, and 
the whites are of a greyish tinge. 

The buildings in which glazed tiles were used for 
decoration are legion, and only a few can be named 
here. In Puebla the churches of Guadalupe, Nuestra 
Sefiora de la Luz, San Francisco, and others, will repay 
examination. Near Mexico City the domes of the Con- 
vent of FE] Carmen at San Angel, together with interior 
dadoes, lavabos, etc., and the Convent at Churubusco 
with the little chapel of San Antonio Abad include 
some fine examples, while in the Capital itself are 
found innumerable domes and towers, wall panels, 
and interior work of all sorts. An old house in San 
Cosme contains a bathroom, complete with walls and 


OF THE VICE-REGAL PERIOD 27 


floor all done in tiles, and a large bathtub, the bottom 
of which displays a life-size depiction of a lady of con- 
siderable personal charm. 

The use of glazed tiles for exterior decoration per- 
sisted up to the end of the Spanish domination. It con- 
stituted one of the most engaging phases of Mexican 
architecture. 


But after all matters of detail have been taken into 
consideration, the distinguishing fact remains that the 
one dominant feature of Mexican Colonial architec- 
ture is the dome, which was universally utilized and of 
which literally thousands exist, all built of solid ma- 
sonry. Placed over the crossing of nave and transept 
churches, or roofing the innumerable chapels and 
shrines, its use imparts a singular sweetness and beauty 
to the skyline of the cities, almost unique in the world. 
The outlines range from a somewhat flattened shape 
raised on a drum, through the regular half orange to the 
elongated, almost Persian type of El] Carmen at Ce- 
laya, and the Chapel of the Well at Guadalupe. The 
patterns of the colored glazed tiles with which they are 
covered vary from plain geometrical squares, or zig- 
zags, to the elaborate coats of arms and garlands at San 
Angel, while the surmounting lanterns are sometimes 
entirely made of faience instead of stone. They are gen- 
erally composed of a single shell and almost always are 
furnished with windows, either in the drum or in the 
shell itself, so as to admit considerable light to the in- 
terior. There is no limit to the number allowed to a 
church; three, five or seven are common. One church 
has forty-nine. 


28 MEXICAN ARCHITECTURE 


The minor accessories of artistic life carried out the 
effect of the architecture. Furniture, silver and iron 
work and candlesticks, the wooden doors to the houses 
and churches, the carved and inlaid sillerias of the 
choirs, and the gorgeous gilded retablos above the al- 
tars, all form part of a complete and harmonious 
whole. In the geometric design of door panelling the 
reminiscence of Mudejar work is particularly ap- 
parent. 

The elaborate gilded retablos deserve a monograph. 
While it is true that many of them are merely banal 
combinations of tortured friezes, inverted pyramidal 
pilasters, and corkscrew columns, some, like that of 
La Ensenafiza in Mexico City, for example, are ex- 
tremely beautiful, while others are not only tasteful, 
but are marvelous examples of the carver and deco- 
rator’s work. Often charming medallion-like religious 
paintings are worked into the decorative scheme, add- 
ing greatly to the beauty of the whole. 

A word should be added about the early Mexican 
School of painting, an art here as elsewhere closely 
allied to architecture, and which in Mexico followed 
much the same path which led through an early period 
of works by artists who came over from Spain bring- 
ing the Spanish tradition along with them, through a 
second period of transition when local influences be- 
came stronger, and a third period, almost strictly 
Mexican, which faded into a decadence in the early 
nineteenth century. During practically all of this time, 
at least up to the last period, the demand was for paint- 
ings of a religious nature, usually subjects from the 
New Testament, destined for the decoration of the 


OF THE VICE-REGAL PERIOD 29 


walls of churches and convents, or actually as objects 
of devotion; mythological or historical subjects were 
very rare, and the effort was to convey an idea rather 
than any visual emotion. Notwithstanding this limita- 
tion the productions of some of these artists were of 
remarkable merit, and have frequently excited the 
admiration of experts. 

Among the great names of the first period are those 
of Echave El Viejo, Sebastian de Arteaga, whose work 
was sometimes mistaken for that of Zurbaran, Luis 
and José Juarez, Echave El Mozo, son of El Viejo, 
Juan Correa, and Cristdbal Villalpando. 

Juan Rodriguez Juarez and Nicolas Rodriguez 
Juarez may be taken to represent the transition, while 
the great figures of the third period are Miguel Ca- 
brera (1695-1768), a Zapotec Indian, and José Maria 
Ibarra, called the Murillo of New Spain. Barroso says 
of Cabrera that not only was his production immense 
but he was the most famous and sought-for painter in 
the colony during the second half of the eighteenth 
century. [The demand for his pictures was enormous. 
Like Rubens he had a large atelier and many assist- 
ants, and he introduced a broad and spacious mode of 
treatment which had an important effect on contem- 
porary Mexican art. 

Ibarra (1688-1756) was a brilliant colorist, and he 
was able to enhance his early reputation as a copyist 
by developing an originality and coloring which placed 
him in the same rank with Cabrera. 

Francisco Eduardo Tresguerras, of Celaya who has 
been mentioned as an architect, was also a painter, 
an etcher, a musician and a poet. His decorations are 


30 MEXICAN ARCHITECTURE 


dramatic and colorful, and he had the satisfaction of 
placing some of them upon the walls of one of his own 
creations, F] Carmen at Celaya. 

The sculpture of the period was evidenced by many 
reliefs and figures in the portadas of the churches, 
notably the central panel of the front of San Augustin, 
now the National Library, and by much decorative 
architectural carving, but on the whole one cannot say 
that sculpture in its true sense existed prior to Tolsa’s 
arrival. He alone, according to Revilla, was compensa- 
tion enough for the previous deprivation,° for in him 
the genius of the art made up for all the lost time. Tolsa 
did not make a great number of statues, as his architec- 
tural activities robbed him of the time he might have 
devoted to sculpture, but the works he did execute 
all testify to his knowledge, talents, and courage. In 
addition to his Charles IV, his principal statues were 
those of the clock on the Cathedral of Mexico, and the 
Tabernacle of the Cathedral of Puebla. 

Aside from the special sculptural works mentioned, 
it must be said that the architectural carving and plas- 
tic decoration of the buildings are much more local in 
feeling than the painting, and show far less imported 
influence. 


In fact, architects can find an endless mine of sug- 
gestion in Mexican domestic architecture and its ac- 
cessories. A proper consideration of the treatment of 
balconies, stairways, cornices, and windows, alone 
would fill a book. A monograph could be made of the 


® Lic. D. Manuel G. Revilla; El Arte in Mexico en la Epoca Antigua 
y durante el Gobierno Virreinal. 


OF THE VICE-REGAL PERIOD 31 


nichos. A Mexican town house of the older type is ap- 
proached from the street by great iron-studded doors 
and a cavernous zaguan, reminiscent of Toledo or 
Segovia, which led to the patio. The lower portions of 
the house are devoted to service, storage, and habita- 
tion of a sort for the porter, and maybe several turkeys. 
Under the arcades, which once sheltered the family 
coach, Felipe or Vicente will perhaps be found washing 
the car. A stone stairway swings nonchalantly up to 
the balcony which is gay with flowers, vines, red pep- 
pers, and colored rugs. Brilliantly colored birds in 
wooden cages hanging from the roof add to the life 
of the scene. From the balconies, open lofty, possibly 
rather bare chambers, running through to the street. If 
the house is in the plateau country another stair leads 
to the brick paved azotea or roof. In the country the 
house is likely to be even more picturesque and the 
flowers more profuse. 

Gardens, fountains, tiled pools, seats, and well curbs, 
occur in plenty. Color is everywhere, in the soft weath- 
ered pinks, blues and greens of the walls, the gaily 
enameled domes and towers, the clothing of the native 
Indians, and the parti-colored fruits and flowers ex- 
posed for sale along the streets. 

The gentle traffic of patient donkeys and sandal- 
footed Indians flows noiselessly along the cobbled 
country roads and down the cool colonnades of the 
cities. Above the time-stained garden walls rise 
straight, dark cypresses and rustling eucalyptus. The 
domes and towers of the village church, massive and 
eternal, look down into courts gay with roses and 
bougainvillea, watered by plashing fountains and 


32 MEXICAN ARCHITECTURE 


soothed by the gurgle of covered streams. Across the 
maize comes the soft chime of distant vespers. 
Pink and orange walls, grated windows, palms and 


cactus, peones and pulque, snowy volcanoes against 
an ultramarine sky. 


“Where the laden burros patter down the steep and rocky ways, | 

And Cholula’s silver vespers echo sweet across the maize, 

Or the holy shrine of Mary guards the magic, mystic well, 

And the nopal and the cypress weave their drowsy, dreamy spell, 

There’s a town along a hillside, basking in the southern haze, 

Just below the Tres Marias, where I’d like to end my days. 

Houses low, and pink and ancient, thick with purple bloom o’erhung, 

Windows barred with antique gratings, same as when old Spain was 
young.” 


PLATE I 
Stairway, Santiago Palace 


Tue Palace of the Count of Santiago de Calimaya, 
one of the oldest and most magnificent houses in Mex- 
ico City, was built soon after the Conquest by a rela- 
tive of Hernan Cortés, Lic. Don Juan Gutiérrez Alta- 
marino. The exterior walls enclose two large courts, 
one for the family and one for service. The main court 
is surrounded by a two-story stone arcade, the loggias 
of which give access to the various rooms. At the right 
hand end is placed a splendid carved fountain; at the 
left the main staircase, built of stone, with an ancient, 
hand-wrought iron rail, and guarded at the foot by 
two rather primitive stone dogs, swings up to the main 
floor level in the nonchalantly superior manner char- 
acteristic of Spanish work. Even in the early half of the 
sixteenth century Mexico possessed stone cutters and 
masons able to cope with the difficult construction 
problem of such a stairway as this. 

The virile and yet beautiful proportions of the col- 
umns and the characteristic mouldings of the arch are 
worthy of the best Vice-Regal work. 

A century after its construction the house became 
the property of Don Santiago de Calimaya; and it 
was he who caused a park to be laid out in the neigh- 
borhood, and the street along the south side of the 
house was long known as the Calle del Parque del 
Conde. 


[ 33 ] 


During the Colonial period the house had consider- 
able importance as it was a sort of meeting place for 
the aristocracy, and the Viceroy, the Archbishop, and 
other dignitaries used to watch religious and civic 
parades from its windows as well as the displays of fire- 
works which were provided on festival occasions. 


[ 34] 


I. STAIRWAY, SANTIAGO PALACE 


a 


PLATE 2 
Loggias, Santiago Palace 


THE loggias of the main patio are in two stories, 
and consist of elliptical arches supported on ranges of 
Doric pillars. The spandrels of the lower range are 
decorated with armorial bearings carved in stone, while 
the upper spandrels and cornice are punctuated by 
heads supporting military-looking stone gargoyles, 
through which the roof water escapes to the court. ° 

Iron railings, carrying supports for flower pots, 
fill the spaces between the pillars. 


PLATE 3 


View in Upper Loggia, 
Santiago Palace 


THE opening at the top of the stairs is covered by a 
triple-cusped arch elaborately ornamented, a tour-de- 
force which evidently interested the builders even at 
that early day, while the detail of the side pilasters and 
border ornament seems to be influenced by Aztec mo- 
tives rather than Spanish. In the corner of the loggia 
at the end, beside the painted coat-of-arms, are seen 
. the carved pilasters of the elaborate doorway leading 
to the family chapel, which occupies the place of honor. 


E37.) 


¢ 


TOV TV J OOVILNVS 


VIDS9O'T Yddd/) NI MarlA a3 ATOWIV O VILNVS “SVID90'7 ‘St 


PLATE 4 
Entrance, Santiago Palace 


Tuis picture shows the composition of the main en- 
trance, with coupled and fluted columns below and a 
cusped window above, surrounded by an interlacing 
filigree border. The door lintel, attractively curved and 
broken, and the moving figure by the door give an idea 
of the scale. The famous cannon gargoyles are also 
visible, and the central space from which the family 
arms were removed. Statues originally occupied the 
pedestals over the gargoyles. 


PLATE 5 


Entrance, House of Don Juan 
Manuel 


Mexico Ciry abounds in legends of every sort, as 
well as in the old mansions, of which this has one of 
the best of the minor doorways. The legend pertaining 
to this particular house, as related by Thomas A. 
Janvier, has an intriguing beginning: 

“This Don Juan Manuel, Senor, was avery rich and 
worthy gentleman who had the bad vice of killing 
people. Every night at eleven o’clock, he went out from 
his magnificent house — as you know, Sejfor, it is still 
standing in the street named after him — all muffled 
in his cloak, and under it his dagger in his hand.” 

The rest of this narrative is told in the Legends of 
the City of Mexico. 

The patio of the house is worthy of its history, but is 
too narrow to obtain a good photograph. 


[ 41 | 


a tf ws haha 


tos 


4. ENNTRANCE, SANTIAGO PALACE 


5. ENTrRANcE, House or Don Juan ManueEt 


e 


PLATE 6 
Patio, Santiago Palace 


Tuis plate shows to still better advantage the con- 
struction of the arched stairway at the upper landing, 
and the detail of the primitive wrought iron railing 
and braces. The large balls at the corner posts are 
typical of Mexican work, and the square applications 
at the centers of the balusters, as well as the ornament 
at the centers of the braces, are evidently derived from 
Spanish precedent. 

The carved fountain at the other end of the stone- 
paved patio can be seen under the arcade. 

Visitors to the house, are particularly attracted by 
the curious stone gargoyles on the exterior, carved in 
the form of cannon (a privilege allowed only to those 
who held the rank of Capitan-General), and by the 
head of an Aztec idol which forms the corner stone 
and is said to have been placed there by the hands of 
Hernando Cortés himself. 


[45 ] 


dl 


% 
: 
' 
- 


6. Patio, SantTiaGco PaLAce 


PLATE 7 


Ancient Balustrade, 
Santiago Palace 


A petait of the old wrought-iron balustrade, shown 
in Plate 1. 
PLATE 8 


A Gateway in Blue and White 


LEADING to the service court of the Santiago Palace. 
The decoration and border at the top is in blue Puebla 
tile. The vast size of these service courts, now rented 
out in shops and swarming with peons, is an indication 
of the wealth and power of the original owners. 


[ 49 ] 


ALIH AA INV aNTG NI AVMULVS) Vacs AOVTV J OOVILNVS ‘ACVULSN'TV LNAIONY v4 


t 
t 
’ 
aa 
. 5 
on 


-* 


PLATE 9 


The House of Alvarado at 
Coyoacan 


In the years immediately following the Conquest, 
perhaps about 1522-1523, the conqueror, Hernando 
Cortés, and his trusted lieutenant, Pedro de Alvarado, 
attracted perhaps by the pleasant scenery, the springs, 
and rippling streams of Coyoacan, built residences 
here, both of which are now in existence. 

The House of Alvarado still possesses its ancient 
stone-flagged patio, extensive garden watered by dimin- 
utive tile and stone aqueducts, embowered in roses and 
bougainvillea, and massive low walls. The facade is 
possibly somewhat altered; the shrine and figurine 
over the door appear to be of later date; but the stucco 
pattern of the walls must date from some early period, 
if not the original one. A roof shelter has been added 
to the azotea, or flat tiled roof, of the original house. 

The house, now the property of Mrs. Zelia Nuttall, 
stands not far from the Convent of Churubusco, and 
faces on a highway which has witnessed many historic 
events. 


[ 53 ] 


PLATE 10 
A Doorway, Mexico City 


Tus is a fine example of the herreriana type of 
doorway; a well-proportioned arch framed in a cor- 
rect Doric combination of fluted pilasters and simple 
entablatures, and with an upper feature similar in 
style, but with Corinthian pilasters and broken pedi- 
ments, and flanked by the customary pyramidal adorn- 
ments. 


[ 54] 


ALIZ) OOIX4]] ‘AVMUOOCT Vor NVOVOAO™) LV OdVUVATY AO ASNOP ‘6 


PLATES II AND 12 


Wall treatment in all-over Patterns, 
Mexico City 


Tue Mudejar (Christianized Moorish) influence in 
ornament appeared so early in the life of the colony 
that one might say that it affected the very earliest 
manifestations of decoration, and, instead of disap- 
pearing with later developments, it persisted during 
the whole life of the Colony up to the 4Academismo 
itself at the very end of the Vice-Regal period. The 
traces of Mudejar influence, therefore, affected the 
character of practically all of the Colonial work. 

This tendency made its earliest appearance in the 
decoration of walls with patterns made in lime mortar 
in geometric, or polygonal, forms, often highly Arabic 
in character, which covered the entire wall surface of 
certain buildings, recalling strongly the similar use 
of all-over ornament on the walls of many houses of 
Segovia, and the Cathedral of Saragossa in Old Spain. 

The house in the Calle del Relox presents a beauti- 
ful example of this work in characteristic Arabic poly- 
gons, relieved by a charming border, while the walls 
of another house in the Calle 2 de Abril show a variant 
in the form of large panels, filled with a design of 
rather plain mouldings, whose volutes suggest an Aztec 
feeling, surrounded by a highly-decorated border. The 
whole effect here is Plateresque rather than Mudeyjar. 
Many other examples of this sort of decoration are 
found in and near the City of Mexico, including the 
churches of San Hipdlito and San Juan de Dios, several 
old houses, and the upper part of the walls of the 
church of Tepozatlan. 

[57] 


ts 
Rag PR tg ge 
Ne oe ae 
ee set 


boo 


12. Watt TREATMENTS IN ALL-ovER Patterns, Mexico City 


PLATE 13 


Corner of Palace of the Mayorazgo 
de Guerrero 


THE great houses of the seventeenth and eighteenth 
centuries developed a unique type of facade in two 
stories. The plain surfaces of the walls were faced with 
crimson tezontle, a highly porous volcanic stone laid 
in blocks eight or ten inches square, sometimes in pat- 
tern, and closely fitted together without mortar. This 
surface of velvety texture was relieved by the trim- 
mings of gray chiluca, often richly carved, which bor- 
dered the doors and windows. The fine tradition of Old 
Spain which concentrated the ornament about the 
portals, leaving the rest of the building comparatively 
plain, was followed, and the windows were simply 
treated by slightly arching the tops and carrying the 
architraves up to the cornice, forming a characteristic 
sort of transom panel over each window. 

At the street corners a sort of turret was built, per- 
haps a reminiscence of the defensive bastion,-of early 
Colonial days, and perhaps merely recalling the corner 
towers often seen in Spain. The angle of this turret 
was decorated with a richly treated niche, usually ac- 
commodating a statuette of religious nature. 

Turrets, or battlements, on the tops of the houses 
were the prerogatives of important military officials, 
such as members of the Court of Audience, while other 
important persons were permitted to have breastworks, 
or parapets, formed of inverted arches between pil- 
asters which were topped with pinnacles. 


[ 61 | 


PLATE 14 


Portal of the Palace of the 
Mayorazgo de Guerrero 


Tuts is one of the finest domestic doorways in the 
capital. The entrance is framed by two Ionic columns 
of perfect purity, which enclose a beautifully treated 
entrance way. [he Baroque lintel is especially delight- 
ful. An iron balcony crowns the lower part and forms 
the base for a pair of Corinthian columns on pedestals, 
between which is a charming window in a frame of 
fretwork. The whole is topped by an elaborate carved 
motif, which contained the family arms before they 
were cut away. 

The opposite corner is occupied by a similar house, 
built by the same family, which produces a magnificent 
effect of symmetry at the street corner. 


[ 62 | 


13. CorNER oF PaLace or THE Mayorazco DE GUERRERO 
14. Porra oF THE Pauace or THE Mayorazco DE GUERRERO 


« 


PLATE 15 


Chapel of the Tercer Orden de 


San Francisco, Cuernavaca 


Tus venerable church was built about 1529-30 at 
the instance of Cortés. Its somewhat jumbled facades, 
aged to a brilliant yellow, rise above the arid expanse 
of the cathedral enclosure. The side portal, with its 
half dome, is a striking feature, as is the bank of tombs 
built beside it between the buttresses. The main front 
is rudely carved, probably by Indian workmen, in 
primitive fashion. The dome at the left, seen above 
the pointed battlements of the enclosing wall, is that of 
Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe, a later church which 
adjoins the entrance to the Borda Gardens. 


PLATE 16 


View of La Parroquta, Taxco 


THE massive bulk of the great church, with its fine 
dome and towers, rises above the hilly streets of the 
’ picturesque city. It would be hard to find a better 
silhouette even in Europe. The facade of the church is 
shown in Plate 77. 


[ 65 ] 


15. CHAPEL OF THE TERCER ORDEN DE SAN FRANCISCO, 
CUERNAVACA 


16. View oF La Parroguia, Taxco .- 


PLATE 17 
Under the Portales, Puebla 


One of the “ cool covered colonnades ” of Mexico. 
These Portales, or arcaded sidewalks, so much ad- 
mired in Europe and desired in America, are in Mexico 
a reality. Note the stone-flagged floor, the tasteful 
columns, and beamed ceiling. Nearer the center of the 
city the Portales are busy places — the abode of public 
typists, candy vendors, and much intriguing and exotic 
street life. 

PLaTE 18 


Cathedral Clotster, Cuernavaca 


CUERNAVACA CATHEDRAL was founded in 1529 by 
the Franciscans, and is a place of great interest. The 
cloisters betoken their age by the character of the 
columns and arches, delicious architectural combina- 
tions of old rose and honey color, stone built, gracious, 
massive, and eternal. 


[ 69 ] 


VOVAVNUAN) “AALSIOTD IWUCIHLVD ‘SI VIdang ‘SHIVLUOg IHL waGNyE) “LI 


PLATE 19 
Detail, House of Tiles 


-'Tuts plate shows highly interesting window trim 
and pilasters in the lower story, as well as the pattern 
of the tile panels in blue, white and yellow. The line 
of the tile border seems to show Chinese influence of 
some sort. Note the terminations at the bottoms of the 
window architraves. 


PLATE 20 
Window, Las Vizcainas 


Tue Convent of Las Vizcainas (the Biscayans), 
sometimes known as the Colegio de la Paz, is a vast 
pile whose facades, 500 feet long, of red tezontle, have 
suffered from settlement. Three rich Biscayan mer- 
chants were walking home together one evening in the 
year 1732, when they were struck by the poverty and 
forsaken appearance of the young girls of the vicinity. 
Upon learning that no schools existed in this quarter 
of the city, they resolved to found a seminary into 
which girls might be received and properly educated. 
By 1767 the founders had expended $583,000, a great 
sum for the time. The school is still continued, and is 
said to be admirably managed. 

The architecture, though peculiar, is distinctive. 


735 


= r ¢ . 
SVNIVOZIA SVT ‘MOGNIAA ‘OZ (¢ SAIL], 40-S8N0Y ~, “Tiveac “G1 


Some Ha ERNE ER ES 
ee wee 


fe =s- 
6 SE RMS 


< 


_— 


PLATE 21 


Detail, Cloister of La Merced, 
Mexico City 


Tuts beautiful cloister, the most elaborate in the 
capital, is a splendid example of Plateresque work in 
Mexico and is unique of its kind in the Republic. The 
second story has two arches to one in the first, probably 
the only example of this type in Mexico, and the effect 
of the decoration recalls the most elaborate terra cotta 
work of North Italy. The detail of the decoration which 
covers the shafts of the columns is especially notice- 
able, as well as the diamond-like facets of the arches. 


C77] 


Mexico Criry 


d 


21. Detait, CLoister of La Mercep 


PLATE 22 
Cloister of La Merced 


THE site for a monastery of the Order of Mercy in 
this locality was granted on September 22, 1533, as 
there were few inhabitants in the vicinity and no re- 
ligious establishment. The first small convent was not 
completed until 1593, but the order prospered and ac- 
quired additional land so that, in 1634, the first stone 
of the magnificent church was laid. The cloisters were 
finished in 1703. 

PLATE 23 


Upper Windows, La Concepcion, 
Mexico City 


THESE are good examples of Mexican Renaissance 
in one of its best aspects. The proportions of the win- 
dows and their frames will repay study, as well as the 
very Spanish employment of cartouches between them. 

The church was dedicated in 1665, but restored in 


1809. 


[ 8r ] 


23. Upper Winvows, La Concepcion, Mexico Crry 


Z 


PLATE 24 
Doorway at Xochimtilco 


Tus well-designed old doorway is placed in the 
center of a great wall of stucco-covered masonry, un- 
relieved by any decoration except its color, a riot of old 
rose overlaying an undertone of lemon yellow. 


PLATE 25 


Facade, San Augustin Acolman 


Near historic Texcoco the great bulk of this antique 
church rises above the ameno valle, as Villasenor 
called it, a veritable stone fortress of the church, al- 
most recalling the fortified convents of the Middle 
Ages. Its immense weight has proved too much for the 
yielding soil, so that it has sunk in the ground more 
than a meter, which injures the proportion of its main 
doorway. 

The facade, of the purest and finest Renaissance 
type, is remarkable as being one of the few examples 
in Mexico which is apparently free from any local in- 
fluence. The semi-circular arch, flanked by garlanded 
columns in the purest style of the Spanish Renaissance, 
the treatment of the statues on either side, and the 
ornaments and decoration of the frieze, all suggest the 
hand of a Spaniard unaffected by any Indian or other 
Colonial surroundings. High on the facade at the left 
of the window are the arms of Castile, Leon and Gra- 
nada, balanced at the right by a local symbol. 


[ 85 ] 


~~ 


NvIWIOoy NILsnony Nvg ‘aqvSv J °52 OOTINIHOOX LV AVMUOOC, ‘FZ 


PLATES 26 AND 27 
Details, San Augustin Acolman 


THE similarity of these details to those of various 
Renaissance buildings of Old Spain, the Hospital de 
Santa Cruz at Toledo for example, has led to the 
theory that the work may come from the hand of the 
famous Enrique de Egas himself, if not that of Covar- 
rubias or Berruguete. The interior archivolt is deco- 
rated with reliefs of cherubims alternating with fruits; 
the exterior with pears, apples, and pomegranates, and 
the intrados with all sorts of viands, fish, vegetables, 
and birds, on thirteen plates, probably an allusion to 
the Last Supper. An old inscription states that the 
work was finished in 1560, and another, high up in the 
interior, says in part, Avio de 1558 se Hiso. Researches 
of recent date seem to prove, however, that the un- 
known designer of this beautiful work was not a Span- 
iard, but a provincial.” 

The interior is remarkable for its frescoes, some of 
which, lately uncovered by cleaning the walls, prove to 
have been executed in the Roman manner at the time 
the church was built. 


1 Arte Colonial, by D. Manuel Romero de Terreros. 


[ 89 ] 


ae 


~~ 


NVWTOOV NILSNONY NWS ‘STIVLAG Tz NVW'IOOVY NILSOINVY NV§ ‘STIVLIG ‘OT 


‘ 


PLATE 28 


The Cathedral of Mexico 
and the Sagrario 


TueEse splendid buildings, which are actually two 
separate churches, form together what is easily the fin- 
est ecclesiastical group in North America, and one of 
the finest in the world, while the cathedral’s dimensions 
(387 feet long, 177 feet wide) give it rank among the 
world’s largest churches. The main facade, shown in 
the plate, faces south on the Plaza de la Constitucion, 
the main square of the city, and the church occupies 
the site of the great teocalli of the city of Moctezuma. 

The two splendid towers, built of warm yellow stone, 
rise to a height of 203 feet. It is interesting to note the 
almost exact similarity between the lower stories of 
these towers and the second story of the towers of the 
Escorial in Spain, the masterpiece of Herrara. The up- 
per portions of the towers were not completed until 
after 1788, and are more interesting than their Spanish 
prototype. The bell-shaped domes which crown the 
towers rest on an octagonal base contained within a 
square pavilion, which is certainly a most successful 
solution of the problem of combining dignity and 
lightness in a Renaissance belfry. 

The towers are occupied by a number of bells, of 
which the largest, Santa Maria de Guadalupe, is 16% 
feet high, 10 feet wide at the base, and is said to weigh 
13% tons. It was cast in Tacubaya, a suburb, in 1792. 

The facade is divided into three sections by two mas- 
sive buttresses capped by great consols, and the three 
portals, which are treated with simple Doric orders, 


[ 93 ] 


carry above them bas reliefs framed with twisted col- 
umns and elaborate cappings. The corner stone was 
laid in 1573, and final dedication occurred in 1667. 
An inscription over the entrance bears the date of 1672, 
but the upper portion of the facade was completed by 
Manuel Tolsa perhaps around 1804, and is in the best 
vein of the academic style prevalent at that time. 

In plan the Cathedral of Mexico is a Catedral-Salon 
very similar to those built by Gil de Hontanon at Sala- 
manca and Segovia, but the Gothic intention is not 
followed out in the interior which is strongly herreriana 
with its lofty fluted Doric piers and simple vaulting. 
Nevertheless it is a majestic and noble interior, even 
though it is marred by the location of the choir in the 
middle of the nave according to Spanish custom. 


PLATE 29 
Dome of the Cathedral of Mexico 


Tue dome of the cathedral was completed by ad- 
dition of the slender lantern by Manuel Tolsa at the 
beginning of the nineteenth century. It is claimed that 
Tolsa purposely reduced the diameter of the lantern in 
order not to compete with the noble towers. The effect 
is unusual, but improves upon acquaintance. The bal- 
ustrades of the roof and the bell-shaped domes of the 
main towers are also of Tolsa’s design. (See also PLATE 


56.) 


[ 94 ] 


28. THe CatrHeprat or MEXICO AND THE SAGRARIO 


nsgeyergen | 


29. Dome or THE CaTHEDRAL oF Mexico 


a) 


PLATE 30 
Interior of the Cathedral of Mexico 


ALTHOUGH the architecture is severely Doric, the 
elaborate railings, altars, organ, etc., supply the neces- 
sary amount of richness to complete a highly sump- 
tuous effect. The wood floor, while comfortable for 
worshippers, rather detracts from the general impres- 
sion, but there are noble vistas, soaring heights, gor- 
geous pictures and picturesque corners, punctuated 
and relieved by the groups of black-clad worshippers, 
which make of the interior one of the great effects of 
the world’s church architecture. 


[97 ] 


. -~-. 


INTERIOR OF THE CATHEDRAL OF MExIco 


30 


PLATE 31 
Domes of El Carmen, San Angel 


THE practice of encrusting or facing domes, towers, 
and walls with glazed tiles was very common in Mex- 
ico, and the number of buildings so decorated can be 
counted by hundreds, perhaps thousands. Among all 
these none are more charming than the three domes 
of the convent church of Nuestra Senora del Carmen 
at San Angel, dating from about 1628. The colors are 
principally blue, white, green and yellow. The designs 
are beautiful in themselves and are different for each 
dome. Some of the coats-of-arms are magnificent. The 
finials, glazed modeled figures, ornaments, etc., are 
also in glazed earthenware, as well as the little steps 
which are arranged to aid in ascending the outside of 
the domes to the lanterns. The effect of the group, seen 
in brilliant sunshine against the deep blue sky, is daz- 
zling and brilliant. ‘The domes can be closely examined 
from the flat roof of the church, which is frequently 
visited for the splendid view it affords of the Valley 
of Mexico, looking across the glossy foliage of the cool 
gardens close at hand to the snow-clad peaks of Popo- 
catapetl and Iztaccihuatl. 


[ rox | 


PROVING! 4!. LISRARY, 
a ok ee 


PLATE 32 
Convento del Carmen, San Angel 


One of the domes referred to above is seen in this 
picture, as well as the bell tower. The rough and time- 
stained masonry of the exterior walls is of red and 
black stone, with the mortar brought well out and 
showing on the face. The convent contains many pas- 
sages with rough plastered walls and floors of rough 
red tile, a library of priceless vellum-bound volumes 
in a fascinating tile-floored and rough-plastered cham- 
ber, and a sacristy and refectory containing much good 
tile work, as well as important paintings and ancient 
furniture. Under one of the chapels are buried forty- 
five American soldiers who served in the war of 
1847-48. 

The church and convent buildings form one of the 
most interesting and beautiful groups to be found in 
Mexico. 


[ 102 | 


32. CoNnvENTO DEL CaRMEN, SAN ANGEL 


PLATE 33 
Church of San Domingo, Puebla 


Tue domed and tiled tower contrasting with the 
massive white buttresses of this church form a typical 
Mexican composition. 


PLATE 34 | 
Gateway, San Francisco Acatepec 


Tue old tiled church of San Francisco Acatepec lies 
a short distance from Cholula, whose decaying teocal- 
fis are conspicuous landmarks for miles around. 

The capricious, yet well-proportioned, form of this 
gateway, with its arch and steps, is a typical Mexican 
treatment. 


[ 105 ] 


aren 


OAdALVIY OOSIONVUY Nvo ‘AVMALVS) pe vIdang ‘OONINOG NV§ 40 HOWNHD aCe 


a4 


g 


* & ESR iaes... 


beens ne 


PLATE 35 
Rear of the Cathedral, Puebla 


Tue Cathedral of Puebla, the beautiful if somewhat 
severe sister of the metropolitan church of Mexico 
City, is assuredly one of the great churches of the 
world, and a masterpiece of its architect, Juan Gomez 
de Mora. Its noble facade and lofty twin towers domi- 
nate the lovely city of Puebla as cathedral towers 
should, but the most charming part of the exterior is 
the tumbled mass of chapels, domes and belfries at the 
rear, where a broad flight of steps leads up between 
great stone pillars to the rather weedy cathedral en- 
closure. [his end of the church is built of a brilliantly 
warm yellow stone, which is joined at the end by a little 
rose-colored and white plastered house with lightly 
corbelled balconies of masonry, an outside stair, and 
windows grilled with heavy iron, a perfect composition 
for an operatic setting. 


| PLATE 36 
A Patio at Puebla 


Even in the humbler abodes the interiors of the 
houses are fascinating. The balconies which surround 
this simple courtyard are supported on corbels in the 
style of the locality. 

The flower pots along the railing are an indication 
of the Mexican’s universal love for beauty. 


[ 109 | 


% 


* 


sgh 
‘ta ¥ 
' oe a: 


ren 
bite 
, ee 
haa 
LE aS 


hy 


ep net 


ret UG 


4 ao eh ey 
Ades 


REAR OF THE CATHEDRAL, 


A Patio at PUEBLA 


PLATE 37 
Hacienda Church Door 


SOME one has estimated that Mexico has nine thou- 
sand churches of genuine architectural interest and 
only a short period of exploration is needed to convince 
one of the truth of such a statement. | 

This little church, built in a locality which to a 
stranger appears not to bea place at all, but just some- 
where near San Juan Teotihuacan, is idiomatic, artis- 
tic, and altogether a cheerful object to meet in a dusty 
day’s drive. The peon on the sun-baked pavement by 
the sagging door, the twisted columns, and the Aztec- 
like decoration of the bases, are all of the very es- 
sence of Mexico. Curiously enough, the interior of the 
church, carried out in gray stone, is of an irreproach- 
able Doric chastity, which would almost be extreme in 
New England. 

One cannot describe such work as the architecture 
of this doorway as Churrigueresque in the sense that 
the word is used in Spain. The fashion may have origi- 
nally come from the mother country, but the Colonial 
architects and their Indian assistants developed from 
it a living style, indigenous to the soil, and Mexican to 
the core. The Chapel of the Well, the Sagrario, and this 
little church, are veritable jewels of a sparkling and 
spontaneous type of architecture which need fear no 
comparison with the leading European models of the 
period; and, best of all, it looks as if its designer and 
workmen alike had enjoyed every minute of the time 
they were engaged in its fabrication. 

An interesting thought is suggested by the light that 


[ 113 ] 


Hactenpa CuHurcH Door 


37 


PLATE 38 
House at Taxco 


Tuts delightful little facade, with its all-over deco- 
rations in stucco and well-proportioned doorway and 
windows, is said to have been occupied by the explorer 
Humboldt during his famous visit to Mexico. 

The clean streets of the town, paved in patterns and 
for centuries innocent of wheeled traffic, are shown in 
the picture, which also gives an idea of the character 
of the place, which was long famous for the riches of 
its mines and their lavish owner, José de la Borda. 


PLATE 39 
A Typical Pueblan. House 


PuEBLA, as the home and birthplace of enameled 
faience, quite properly contains many tiled houses, 
some of which are of great beauty. The walls above the 
stone base are often covered with unglazed red tiles, 
at the corners of which are inserted small square tiles 
glazed in blue, white, or other colors. The windows are 
furnished with iron balconies, and the stone architraves 
of the upper story are carried up to the cornice in the 
typical Mexican manner, forming panels above the 
windows. According to the custom of the plateau coun- 
try the roof is flat and the cornice is given only slight 
projection. The lower windows are heavily barred. 


[ 117 | 


39. A Typicat Purstan House 


38. House at Taxco 


PLATE 40 


Tower of San Francisco, Puebla 


PUEBLA is one of the handsomest cities in the Re- 
public, well paved and clean in a manner unknown 
north of the Rio Grande. In the central parts its rec- 
tangularly laid out streets are full of churches, houses, 
and arcades of an architectural interest and refine- 
ment exceptional even for Mexico, but in the eastern 
quarter, across the little stream which divides the town 
into two unequal parts, there is a picturesque suburb 
which contains among its cubical white houses some 
important churches as well as entertaining vistas. The 
picture shows the tower of San Francisco, a morsel of 
the true herreriana, the white houses of the suburb, 
and the trees of the little Paseo which contains the 
statue of General Zaragoza, the young general who, at 
Puebla, on the Cinco de Mayo, 1862, drove a superior 
French army back to the coast. A grateful country 
founded its national holiday in memory of this feat. 


PLATE 41 


A Pulqueria 


TueE wine of the country in the plateau region is 
pulque, a fermented beverage made from the juice of 
the maguey plant, having about the same percentage 
of alcohol as beer, and tasting like a blend of cider and 
paregoric, which, incidentally, proves better than it 
sounds. Many of the shops which dispense this beverage 
are provided with facades highly decorated by native 
artists in brilliant colors. The paintings in this case 
represent scenes from a bull fight, and recall the 
frescoes of ancient Pompeii. 

Bea 


ee 


FR seeceanaiee 


41. A PuLqueria 


PLATE 42 
A Street at Puebla 


IRON-BARRED windows, white towers, deep shadows, 
and a brilliantly blue sky make this typical Mexican 
composition, ready for the water-colorist’s brush, The 
photographs cannot reproduce the delicate, reflected 
lights of the white wall at the left. 


PLATE 43 
Church and Atrium, Puebla 


A FORE court, or atrium, lends dignity to any church, 
and this well-proportioned gateway, backed by cy- 
presses, is an appropriate introduction to the beautiful 
baroque church behind it. The shapes of the windows 
over the entrances of churches are of ever-recurring 
interest. 


[125 ] 


oe 


viddng ‘WAINLY ONV HOWNH te VIdang LV LagUuLs VY ‘7h 


PLATES 44 AND 45 
The Casa de Alfenique, Puebla 


A Foro of Churrigueresque, or, perhaps more prop- 
erly, the neo-Plateresque, is the splendid Casa de Al- 
fenique which is carried out in the idiomatic manner 
common in Puebla. The exterior walls are faced with 
dull red tiles carrying glazed colored tiles set in at the 
corners, while the trimmings are of white stone. The 
elegantly thin balconies, elaborately carved cornices, 
and the special feature of a whimsical corner balcony 
at the third story, protected by a light stone canopy, are 
all features of this Pueblan manner. The panels above 
the windows are preserved, and the belt course ex- 
ecutes a delightful double-shuffle over the main en- 
trance. The name alfenique means almond cake, or 
gingerbread, an allusion to the lightness and capri- 
ciousness of the decoration. The interior patio is small, 
but contains a beautiful carved stairway and good iron 
work, very hard to photograph on account of the re- 
stricted space. 

Puebla, on the main road from the capital to Vera 
Cruz, was in contact with all the traffic to and from 
Seville, the headquarters of the Convent of the Indies, 
and must have felt the Arabic or Mudejar influence 
very strongly. The city contains quite a number of 
houses of this type, located generally at street.corners, 
and furnished with corner balconies and projecting 
canopies. Frequently the trim of the windows is given 
an even greater allowance of ornament. 


[ 129 ] 


- 
j 
¥ 
¢ 
’ 
~~ 


44. THE Casa DE ALFENIQUE, PUEBLA 


45. THe Casa pe ALFENIQUE, PUEBLA 


Pate 46 


Convent of Santa Marta 
de los Angeles at Churubusco 


Tue Convent Church at Churubusco, which was 
built about 1678, contains the pretty little tiled chapel 
of San Antonio Abad nestling in an angle at the base 
of the massive tower. The chapel with its diminutive 
dome is entirely covered with glazed and colored tiles. 
Beside it is a simple and well-proportioned arched door- 
way with niche and pediment above, in the earlier man- 
ner. [he convent itself has great historical interest, as 
it formed the support of the right of the Mexican line 
at the battle of Churubusco, August 20, 1847. The de- 
fenders, under Generals Rincon and Anaya, put up a 
stubborn resistance against the heavier artillery of the 
Americans, and only surrendered when their ammuni- 
tion was exhausted. The walls and tower of the con- 
vent have aged to a delicate rose color, shading into a 
delicious yellow. The church contains some beautiful 
tile work, and other interesting carvings and paint- 
ings; and the locality, now a region of peaceful maize 
fields, is one of the most interesting in the Valley. 


[ 133 ] 


wh 


3 
% 


— 


46. ConvENT or Santa Marta DE Los ANGELES at CHURUBUSCO 


} 
( 


PLATE 47 


Capilla del Pocito, Guadalupe 
Fiidalgo 


THE most important example of the combination of 
Plateresque and Mudejar influences upon the baroque 
style of the Vice-Regal period is that true jewel of 
Colonial architecture, called the “ Chapel of the Well,” 
at Villa de Guadalupe, or Guadalupe Hidalgo, three 
miles from Mexico City, and one of the most impor- 
tant pilgrimage towns in the world, which was made 
famous by the apparition of the Blessed Virgin on 
December 9, 1531. In connection with that apparition 
a healing spring gushed forth from a barren hillside, 
and it was over this spring that this chapel was built, 
in 1777-91, by the architect, Don Francisco Guerrero 
Torres. 

The form of the building is not only beautiful but 
highly original and appropriate to its purpose. The 
plan is formed by the principal chapel, which is ellip- 
tical, and by the small, circular chapel annexed to it 
which covers the sacred well. In addition there is a 
small sacristy at the rear. The building is about 55 feet 
wide by 95 feet in extreme depth. 

The plan is expressed exactly by the exterior. The 
smaller circular chapel in front is about 20 feet in di- 
ameter, and contains the legendary well, a somewhat 
sulphurous bubbling spring within a curb some six feet 
across, provided with a copper pail which is constantly 
in use by devout pilgrims. 

Both domes as well as the capriciously modeled up- 
per portions of the walls are covered with blue and 


[ 137 ] 


whiie azulejos alternated in chevron-like formation 
with rib lines of yellow and crowned by lanterns of 
similar shape, also in tiles and finished with a cross. 

The effect of this beautiful building is due not only 
to its original and beautiful design, but to the use of 
polychromy, and to the contrast of the dazzling blue 
and white of the domes with the dark purplish-red of 
the walls. From any point of view this little known 
chapel must eventually take its place among the finest 
architectural gems of the Renaissance as a building 
original, idiomatic, absolutely suited to its purpose, 
and frankly indigenous to its native soil. 

From the preliminary chamber access is had to the 
larger chapel, which is utilized for religious services 
and contains four altars, commemorating the four ap- 
pearances of the Virgin of Guadalupe. There are two 
lateral doors, and a door to the sacristy opposite to 
that from the Pocito. 

The fagades of both chapels are curved in plan, built 
of red tezontle with trimmings of lighter stone, and 
provided with windows in the symbolical form of a 
star. 

The smaller chapel is roofed by a spherical, and the 
larger by an elliptical, dome. | 


PLaTe 48 


Church Door, Villa de Guadalupe 


SANTA CoLeta, just east of the Basilica of Guada-. 
lupe, was built about 1782-87. The recessed central 
part of the entrance with its ample pediment has a fine 
swing of noble proportions. The square in front is 
crowded with vendors of candles and objects of piety. 


[ 138 ] 


AdNTVAVNS AG VITIA ‘OO HOUNHD ‘gh OOTVdI}] AMNTVAVND ‘OLID0g Tad WITIdvZ ‘LP 


PLATE 49 
Main Door, Capilla del Pocito 


THE principal doorway is curved in plan, following 
the interior, and is decorated in the first story with two 
pairs of Corinthian columns, one pair on each side of 
the door with niches, and above two other pairs of 
columns, likewise Corinthian, but more highly orna- 
mented. The base is also of light stone, and the niches 
are backed with tiles. 


PLATE 50 
Szde Door, Capilla del Pocito 


THe side door is also on a curved plan, and is given 
a whimsical form of the Doric order, with an easily 
flowing sort of pediment and a brilliant star window 
above. Note the undulating lines of the pilasters and 
lintel, and the delightful fretwork borders of the 
tezonile wall panels. 

This plate also shows the tile pattern and one of the 
elaborate dormers. 


[ 141] 


OLIOOg Ida VITIdVD ‘Y00G Nivyjy “64 


OLID0g Tad VTIIdvd “UOOG aAaIS ‘oS 


ew eh 


EEE pon sa eo 


PLATE 51 
A Chapel at Guadalupe Hidalgo 


Tuts busy little city, the site of the famous shrine 
of Our Lady of Guadalupe, although overrun by pil- 
grims (200,000 reported in one day in 1926), possesses 
a few cool and shady corners, of which this is one. The 
little parks, or alamedas, are one of the joys of Mexi- 
can travel. Almost every town has one, always kept 
clean, shady, and provided with an iron band stand. 
The traveller would be grateful if more of them were 
provided with seats. 


PLATE 52 
A Mexican Alameda 


A SCENE combining several characteristic features: 
the church with its dome, the shady little park, the 
cobbly street, and the omnipresent Indian vendor of 
eatables, with her three-legged umbrella and not much 
else. Her stock consists of a handful of peanuts, two 
or three tomatoes, some tunas or prickly pear fruit, 
and maybe a few other strange but highly colored vege- 
tables. She sits there all day and no one ever saw her 
make a sale, but, on the other hand, her overhead is 
small, and her stock in case of necessity can always 
be eaten. 


[ 145 | 


_ 


52. A Mexican ALAMEDA 


51. A CuHapet, GuapaLurE Hipaico 


y 
= 
ss 


. 


PLATE 53 
Detail, Capilla del Poctto 


THE carving of this building repays careful study, 
for its richness, balance, and originality. The central 
window above the door is star shaped and contains a 
little figure of the Virgin. All around the window is a 
mass of the richest sculpture, resembling chased silver 
and composed chiefly of the forms of little angels. This 
freedom from the confining forms of European prec- 
edent is a fascinating feature of Mexican work, which 
indicates artistically a far greater independence of the 
mother country than was the case in the English 
colonies. 

PLATE 54 


Fountain in Patio of the “* House of 
Tiles ”’ 


THE interior of the Casa de los Azulejos is a worthy | 
adjunct to the exterior. There is a noble patio, sur- 
rounded by slender columns of graceful but unusual 
design, and containing a baroque fountain of gray 
stone recalling properties of both the baroque and 
Mudejar styles. 

A grand stone staircase, wainscoted with tiles of 
Chinese appearance, leads to the main floor which con- 
tains an elaborate chapel. 

All the details of this building are surprisingly orig- 
inal and beautiful. The graceful stone columns of the 
patio are particularly pleasing. The patio is now util- 
ized as a restaurant. 


[ 149 | 


” 


am 


9? 


House OF LILES 


° 

z 

Oo F 

° i 

4 f 

fx) # 

= ica 
< sa 
ae H 
a fy 
a O 
Ss S 
) a 
< A. 
; Z 
a 

cy 

Ww 


54. FounTAIN 


PLATE 55 


Details from the ‘* House of Tiles’? 
in Mexico City 


THE very finest example of the Baroque-Plateresque 
style applied to domestic work is the incomparable 
house of the Conde del Valle de Orizaba, better known 
as the Casa de los Azulejos, or House of Tiles, which 
was, if not the most sumptuous or rich, still the most 
beautiful residence in the colony. Its facade not only 
presents much rich carving of Plateresque character 
in its pilasters, copings, and around its windows and 
doors, but the entire area of its external walls is cov- 
ered with blue, white, and yellow Puebla glazed tiles. 
The rather oriental character of the designs has led to 
the belief that the tiles were imported from China, but 
Edwin Atlee Barber in his book, The Maiolica of Mex- 
ico, states unhesitatingly that they are the usual tin- 
enameled pottery such as was produced at Puebla 
about the middle of the eighteenth century. Most of 
the tiles are slightly curved, probably having been 
warped in burning, which produces a not unpleasing 
wall texture. 

The history of the house is unusual. The original 
structure, built pérhaps around 1596, was acquired by 
the spendthrift son of one of the Condes del Valle de 
Orizaba, to whom he had been the cause of frequent 
sorrow and chagrin. On one occasion the old Count, 
convinced that his son would squander his entire patri- 
mony, exclaimed, employing a phrase then used in 
connection with a spendthrift in Mexico: 

“ You will never build a house of tiles, my son.” 


[ 153 ] 


As a matter of fact, the youth mended his ways and 
actually built the beautiful house, a reproduction of 
which we see here. The mansion has had a varied his- 
tory. Under President Diaz it was occupied by the aris- 
tocratic Jockey Club. During a later period it was put 
to a popular use, but has since been purchased by Mr. 
Sanborn, an American, who utilizes it for business pur- 
poses, while carefully conserving its architectural char- 
acter. 


[ 154 ] 


55. DeTain From THE “ House or Tires” 1n Mexico City 


PLATE 56 
Cathedral Tower, Mexico City 


Tue design of the belfry stories of the two great 
towers is a happy solution of this problem which occurs 
in many Renaissance churches. To combine massive- 
ness and lightness is always difficult. In this case the 
square exterior pavilion encloses an octagonal inner 
structure which contains the bells, and by its shape 
and mass provides the requisite effect of solidity with 
play of light and shade. The bell-like tops which form 
such a distinctive feature belong to the later academic 
period. 


[ 157 ] 


PLATE 57 
Facade of the Sagrario, Mexico City 


Tus church, which adjoins the Cathedral, is per- 
haps, all in all, the finest Churrigueresque development 
of church architecture in Mexico, and ranks with La 
Santisima and the church at Tepozatlan as one of the 
finest flowers of the Colonial period at its climax in the 
eighteenth century. The architect was the talented Lo- 
renzo Rodriguez, likewise the designer of La Santis- 
ima. Adjoining the Cathedral of Mexico on the east, 
of which it seems to be a part, it succeeds marvellously 
in forming a harmonious composition seen from any 
point of view. The facades are of the usual red tezontle 
relieved with light stone trimmings, and the two highly 
original fronts of the nave and transept form one of 
the most striking features of the great square of the 
city. 

It is difficult to describe the intricate design of these 
two fronts, and yet the ensemble is perfectly simple 
and effective. The great Spanish lesson of contrasting 
a field of intensely rich carving against an absolutely 
plain background, so little understood in English- 
speaking countries, was never better exemplified than 
in this beautiful Mexican church. 


[ 158 ] 


ALIZ) OOIXAJ “OlYVUNVG AHL AO aavsv yy °ZS ALIZ OOIXAJ “UAMOT, IvuddHLva °9$ 


PLATE 58 
Details of the Sagrario 


Tue door motifs of course first challenge our in- 
terest. There is frankly no attempt to adapt ornament 
to construction, but it seems as if the architect, out of 
pure joy in his work, had developed the design of his 
fancy and applied it against the wall of the church, 
just as one of the great carved and gilded retablos is 
planted against the interior wall of a chapel, and the 
idea is justified by the resulting effect. 

The plans, which provided for a building raised upon 
a Greek cross, a thing unusual in itself in Mexico, 
were completed in 1749. The triangular facades and the 
rather low and flattish dome seem to imply an effort to 
subordinate the mass to that of the cathedral adjoin- 
ing. One must rejoice that this lovely addition to the 
cathedral group came into being at the full flowering 
epoch of the capital’s artistic life, and before the icy 
current of the Academismo had checked the generous 
flow of native genius. Correctly classic chapels exist 
everywhere, but only Mexico could have produced the 
Sagrario. As Barroso well says, it is worthy of admira- 
tion, study, and respect. 


[ 161 | 


DETAILS OF THE SAGRARIO 


58 


PLATE 59 
Basilica of Guadalupe 


Tuis splendid church, which contains the tilma of 
the peon Juan Diego bearing the miraculous portrait 
of the Virgin, was completed in 1709 at enormous cost. 

The entrance motif is well-proportioned and well- 
detailed, of light stone against a background of red 
tezontle. 

The interior of the church is dignified, well-propor- 
tioned, and attractive. The silver railings of the chancel 
and galleries are the marvel of many visitors. 


[ 165 ] 


PLATE 60 
La Santisima Trinidad, Mextco City 


Tuts church, which has, next to the Sagrario Metro- 
politano (plates 27, 57, 58), the most important and 
elaborate Churrigueresque facade in the City of Mex- 
ico, was designed by Lorenzo Rodriguez and was dedi- 
cated January 17, 1783. 

The plan of the church, which is backed against 
buildings on two sides, is a Latin cross. A dome covers 
the junction of the nave and transept, and a single 
tower rises at the corner. 

The entrance is decorated with a magnificent motif 
in three stories, framed by elaborately rusticated bor- 
der pilasters, or buttresses. The main door, beautifully 
paneled, carries above it a shield with the papal in- 
signia, and on each side two pilasters formed of in- 
verted pyramids with sculptures of popes between. A 
great relief of the Holy Trinity occupies the center of 
the second story, flanked on either side by pilasters 
similar to those below, and more papal sculptures be- 
tween. The third story is narrower, and is composed 
mainly of a great window with curvilinear lines, framed 
in a sort of pylon, and flanked by carved pinnacles. 

The general proportions are good, but are somewhat 
marred by the sinking of the entire fabric in the yield- 
ing sub-soil. The interruption of the cornices of the 
first and second stories by the central feature of the 
facade also tends to break up the harmony of the 
composition. 

The church possesses a lateral entrance of great 
harmony and beauty as well. 


[ 166 ] 


HELE 


ie —_ Rete! Leet MR : 


' 
| 


Le 


60. La Santisima Trinipap, Mexico City 


59. BasiticaA oF GUADALUPE 


PLATE 61 
Dome and Tower of La Santtsima 


Tue dome springs from an octagonal drum which 
has a window in each side, decorated with carvings 
in stone. The sections of the dome are covered with 
azulejos, a Mudejar detail worth noticing in a church 
of this type. A lantern of the usual type crowns the 
whole. 

The tower rises from the ground, the plain walls of 
red tezontle with rusticated corners forming a back- 
ground to the fretwork of the main facade. Beginning 
at the roof level it presents a rich belfry story corre- 
sponding to the main facade, but with twelve pilasters 
which are ingeniously arranged with three at each 
angle, so that one sees a pair on each side of the belfry 
arch on each of the four sides. The tower is terminated 
by a sort of dome in the form of the papal tiara, sur- 
mounted by a cross. 


[ 169 ] 


PLATE 62 


Tower and Side Buttresses of 
La Santisima 


A most effective view of this striking church is had 
from the side street towards the rear, where the mighty 
buttresses are seen to their best advantage. 

Taken as a whole, this church possesses great unity, 
a quality sometimes lacking in the Baroque Colonial 
work. The relation between the two facades is good, 
and the entire mass, tower and dome, are in keeping 
with each other. La Santisima, with the Sagrario and 
the facade of Tepozatlan, form the most important 
group in this style. 


[ 170 ] 


61. Dome Anp Tower or La SANTISIMA 


“6 
ie 


* 

“y 
‘ 
é 
‘ 
: 
; 
4 


62. 'TowER AND SIDE BuTTRESSES 
oF La SANTISIMA 


PLATE 63 
Tiled Seat and Fountain 


THERE was no limit to the uses which were found 
for the tin-enameled tiles of Puebla. Fountains, basins, 
seats, and shrines were some of the garden accessories 
which employed them. 

This seat is in the beautiful garden of the govern- 
ment tobacco factory in Puente de Alvarado, Mexico 
City, a palace designed by Tolsa and successively the 
residence of the Condesa de Pérez Galvez, Prince de 
Iturbide, General Santa Anna, and the French Mar- 
shal, Bazaine. 


PLATE 64 
Gateway at Orizaba 


ANorHER example of Mexican garden work, always 
fascinating and attractive. 


[ 173 ] 


\ 


at 


1 Pee AS OE PRL? 
ee) eowr were 


64. GATEWAY AT ORIZABA 


PLATE 65 
House of the Masks, Mexico City 


TuE house now standing in the ancient Tlacdépan 
Causeway, now Calle de la Ribera de San Cosme, in 
Mexico City, is one of the best examples of Chur- 
_ rigueresque art applied to domestic use. The house has 
only one story, and its facade presents three windows 
on each side of the central door. The central motif 
containing the door is unfinished. A system of rusti- 
cated blocks covers the entire surface. Between the 
windows, which are highly ornamented, there is an 
elaborate pilaster supporting a sort of caryatid, above 
which are richly decorated gargoyles that give the 
house the name of Las Mascarones, or House of the 
Masks. This highly original dwelling was begun by 
Don José de Mendoza, Conde del Valle de Orizaba. He 
died in 1771, before the exterior was completed. At 
that time he had spent $100,000 upon the house, a vast 
sum in those days of cheap labor. It was sold at auction 
in 1824, and made habitable. 

The carving under the window sills is noteworthy, 
and typical in general design of much Mexican work. 


bece 


PLATE 66 


Cathedral and City Hall, 
San Luis Potosi 


Tue Baroque cathedral with its twisted columns 
and numerous niches was dedicated in 1737, and is 
flanked by the simple and dignified Ayuntamiento, or 
City Hall, with its cool loggias and massive piers. The 
clean but narrow street separates them from the Ala- 
meda, with its broad surrounding walk paved in neat 
squares of black and white stone, the evening prome- 
nade of the citizens, and the out-of-door salon of the 
city. 


[ 178 ] 


65. House or tHE Masks, Mexico Crry 


66. CATHEDRAL AND City Hatt, San Luis Porosti 


¥; 


Lid LS 


gn 


7 
} 
a 


° 


Fie 


we 


PLATE 67 
In the Borda Garden 


THESE gardens were created by the same José de la 
Borda who caused the erection of the famous church of 
Taxco. The beautiful city of Cuernavaca, half way 
from the mines of Taxco to the capital, appealed to 
him as a sort of Buen Retiro, a place where he might 
satisfy his penchant for horticulture. 

The garden, whose water channels and basins are 
now dry, must have, in its day, recalled those of El 
Generalife at Granada with their aqueducts, fountains, 
great glassy pools of water, and magnificent trees. 

Even now the flora of the garden possesses much in- 
terest, while the views from it are superb. The garden 
adjoins the famous barranca, across which the soldiers 
of Cortés swarmed on a fallen tree to capture the an- 
cient Aztec stronghold. 


[ 181 | 


67. In THE Borpa GARDEN 


PuaTE 68 


Panelled Doors 


From a private collection. The intricate panelling 
suggests the Arabic work of Old Spain. 


PLATE 69 


An Old Door 


From the Capilla de Soledad, adjoining the Sagra- 
rio. Here the type of panelling follows the flowing 
and undulating lines of the building itself. 


[ 185 | 


68. PANELLED Doors 


69. An Otp Door 


PLATE 70 
Gilded Carving, Puebla 


Aw example of the wood carver’s skill, of which 
hundreds of examples exist in altars, sedilias, and por- 
tals, all over the Republic. 


PLATE 71 
A Tiled Wall 


A DETAIL of a Pueblan wall pattern, with a glazed 
tile insert and pictorial motif. The dark squares are 
unglazed red tiles, but all the rest is glazed. Entire 
buildings decorated in this manner are very common 
in Puebla, in fact are almost typical of the city. 


[ 189 ] 


aa , 7 st 


. 
J 

a 
. 


f 
| 


Coa po gata 7p tae pa Beg en eS 


+ 


Le OS OH Ge 


ovenafie 


psa gt 


71. A Tirep WALL 


70. GILDED CarviNnG, PUEBLA 


ry 


PLATE 72 
Church at Tepozatlan 


Tue third great example of the neo-Plateresque is 
the facade of the convent church of Tepozatlan. The 
church itself is of earlier construction, and the dome 
was influenced by other tendencies, but the facade, of 
clean cut stone, with its tower in two great stories, is 
magnificent. The portada, or great central motif, is 
flanked on each side by comparatively plain surfaces 
which give full relief to the brilliant play of light and 
shade in the carving. The ornament is of the finest cut- 
ting throughout, and the firm lines of the lower cornice, 
the slightly broken lines of the second, and the un- 
dulating profile of the cornice, which rises in succes- 
sive elevations like the jets of a living fountain, com- 
bine to make it a masterpiece of its period. Statistics 
are a poor indication of artistic merit, but the richness 
of the facade may be judged by the fact that the tower 
and portada together contain 56 figures of angels, 118 
heads of cherubims, and 146 figures of saints, a total 
of 320 figures, a veritable litany in stone, which almost 
recalls the glories of the Gothic cathedrals. The gen- 
eral layout is similar to others of the same style, viz. 
an arrangement of decorated pilasters enclosing niches 
and medallions in two stories, with an attic story, or 
remate, glorifying the whole. The tower also retains 
the characteristic arrangement of the corner pilasters, 
which results in showing two pilasters at each corner 
of each side. | 

The photograph also shows the surrounding wall 
with inverted circular capping, a sign of ecclesiastical 
authority. | 

[ 193 | 


The facade and tower may be qualified simply as 
magnificent, for they combine unity, not only in the 
character of their carving, but in the manner in which 
they are bound together by strong horizontal bands, 
strength in the solidity and simplicity of the cubo or 
base of the tower and flanking walls, and excellent 
proportion in the entire composition. 


[ 194 ] 


72. CuHurcH aT TEPOZATLAN 


td 


PLATES 73 AND 74 
Lnterior of the Church at Tepozatlan 


THE interior decoration of these temples was in- 
fluenced by the Plateresque, which in its turn was 
strongly affected by the Gothic. In the case of Tepo- 
zatlan the heavily gilded retablos harmonize with the 
richness of the exterior, completing the unity of the 
whole scheme. 


[ 197 ] 


a a 


= 


bye 
ee 


pony 


~ 


, 


AN 


73, 74. INTERIOR OF THE CHURCH AT TEPOZATL 


PLATE 75 
Detail of Portal, Tepozatlan 


AN examination of the detail of this work reveals 
a crispness and lightness of touch easily comparable to 
the best early Spanish Renaissance; in fact, so bril- 
liant and sparkling is the carving that one hesitates to 
believe that it is a work of the later period at all. 


[ 201 | 


WROV IEC UBRARY? 
VICTORIA, ®. S. 


a 


I 


a 


JIS ATL mi JI 


AN 


Detait oF Porrat at TEPOZATL 


fh 


PLATE 76 


The Noche Triste Memorial, 
Mexico City 


THIs quaint monument in the Calle del Puente de 
Alvarado forms a corner of the enclosing wall of the 
Church of San Hipolito, and marks the spot where, on 
the terrible night of July 1, 1520, over 600 Spaniards 
were slain on the causeway which then connected the 
Aztec city of Tenochtitlan with the mainland, during 
their attempted retreat from the city. 

The device represents a terrified Indian clasped in 
the embrace of an eagle, and recalls the tradition of an 
Indian who was selected by the gods to advise the 
Emperor Moctezuma of the danger which threatened 
him unless he forsook the sort of life he was leading. 


[ 205 | 


PLATE 77 
The **Parroquia’’ of Taxco 


THE millionaire mining magnate, José de la Borda, 
who also created the famous Borda gardens at Cuerna- 
vaca, erected this church about 1757 as a token of 
gratitude for the good fortune which attended his min- 
ing ventures. 

No expense was spared to make the building a per- 
fect example of ecclesiastical design, and it is regarded 
as one of the most important churches, architecturally, 
in Mexico. The design suffers from the contraction of 
the bases, or cubos, of the towers, a defect which also 
appears in the church at Ocotlan, and which detracts 
from the usual massiveness of Spanish design. The in- 
tent may have been to increase the apparent height. 

The dome, covered with glazed tiles in blue, orange, 
green, and white, carries at its base the words Gloria 
a Dios en las alturas, “ Glory to God on the heights,” 
a fitting Spanish paraphrase. 

(See also Piates 76 and 78.) 


[| 206 ] 


76. Tue Nocue Triste Memorian, 
Mexico City 


77. [HE “ Parroguia” or Taxco 


s* 


PiaTE 78 

A Window at Taxco 
A betait from La Parroquia. 
PLATE 79 


An Old Stone Escutcheon 


Many of the coats-of-arms which ornamented the 
facades of the ancient Spanish palaces were ordered 
removed by the Government of the Republic. Some 
were saved, and are contained in the National Mu- 
seum. 


[ 209 ] 


79. An Otp Stone EscutcHEeon 


78. A Winvow at Taxco 


. 
s 


>) - 


PLATE 80 


Pool in the Borda Garden, 


Cuernavaca 


Tuts delightful pool has a sentimental interest as 
having been a favorite resort of the Empress Carlotta 
during her unhappy reign. The bathing pavilions and 
stone seats were then gay with the followers of the 
brilliant court. This pool, or rather lake, for it is 40 
feet wide and 500 feet long, forms the central or main 
feature of the garden. (See also PLATE 67.) 


PuaTE 81 
Old House, San Angel 


A quite complete example of an old-time suburban 
house, aristocratic evidently, by the scalloped para- 
pets, or almenas, which could only betoken the abode 
of a person of rank. The barred windows giving on the 
street, and the enclosed garden, with the enormous 
mass of crimson-purple bougainvillea contrasting with 
the white walls, complete a most effective composition. 


[ 213 ] 


80. Poot in THE Borpa Garpen, CUERNAVACA 


81. Otp House, San ANGEL 


PLATE 82 
Palacio de Mineria, Mexico City 


THE School of Mines, a vast, gloomy affair regarded 
as the masterpiece of the architect, Manuel Tolsa, was 
built in the years from 1797 to 1813, and is said to 
have cost at that time $1,500,000. The dimensions are 
inspiring, for the main facade has a length of 312 feet, 
and the principal patio is 86 feet square. Its mass and 
details are drawn from European sources and are cor- 
rect and in good taste, but its effect is cold and formal 
in comparison with the productions of native taste in 
the structures built in preceding years. The patio and 
staircase, however, possess great majesty and need not 
fear comparison with the best European work of the 
period. 

It is related that Tolsa was given only two months 
to make the plans for this enormous building, which 
may be an excuse for the serious settlements which mar 
the facade, amounting to at least three or four feet. 
The settlements began the year the building was fin- 
ished, and have continued more or less ever since, al- 
though great sums have been expended in efforts to 
prevent it. 

During his visit to Mexico in 1880, General Grant 
was lodged in this building. 


[ 217 ] 


PLATE 83 
Stairway in Palacio de Minertia 


Tue treatment of the basement and entresol is 
worthy of note, as well as the two side porticoes, whose 
bases have sunk in the earth. The patio is probably the 
most interesting part of the building, and the stately 
stairway with the wide and easy steps and handsome 
balustrade should be better known. 


[ 218 ] 


82. Paracio pE Mineria, Mexico Ciry 


83. Srairway IN Paracio DE MINERIA 


PLATE 84 
Lhe Church of El Carmen, Celaya 


Tuis church was the masterpiece of the architect, 
Francisco Eduardo Tresguerras, a real genius of the 
Renaissance, whose biography, had he lived in Italy, 
might have adorned the pages of another Vasari. He 
was born in Celaya in 1745, and the story of his life re- 
futes the proverb about prophets being without honor 
in their own country, for it was his home town which 
gave him the opportunity to do his greatest work, the 
beautiful Church of EK] Carmen, which was dedicated 
in 1807 and cost $225,000, according to T’erreros. He 
was compensated for his work during the years from 
1802 to 1807 by an honorarium of 2000 pesos annually, 
which he took in real estate consisting of some small 
houses which existed until recently. 

His own description of the church says that the dome 
is of the same height as the tower, 70 varas (195 feet), 
and is elliptical in plan, with eight windows in the 
drum, separated by pairs of Corinthian columns which, 
he says, give 90 square varas of light in the interior. 

The dome, as well as the bell-like termination of 
the tower, are covered with azulejos, an interesting 
circumstance which shows the persistence of this prac- 
tice up to the very end of the Vice-Regal period. 

Tresguerras had the faculty of imparting a sort of 
graciousness to the details of his work which relieved 
it of the formality which characterized that of Tolsa. 
Terreros regards him as the greatest architect Mexico 
ever produced. 


a3) 
PROW > Bat ‘aR « 
Vi ee TO Ke La ; me Pred h gh 


wa 


VAVTdD ‘NAWUVD TW AO HOUNHD AH, ‘Fg 


\ 


Six, RP a 


ER LIBRARY 


Lu 
O 
> 
= 
= 
uu 
Oo 


NT 


NMI 


whi 


ck 


aes. 


0 


sass 


! 


| 


